DALLAS – Undermanned and undersized, the Timberwolves played on with only two true, healthy big men available Sunday in Dallas.
Wolves interim head coach Sam Mitchell knows his team needs help.
He also knows he's probably going to have to wait for it.
Veteran Andre Miller's release on Thursday left the Wolves with 14 players on a 15-man roster. Veteran Kevin Martin's release by Tuesday night, if it happens, would bring that number to 13. Add injured Nemanja Bjelica, Kevin Garnett, Nikola Pekovic and Mitchell played just eight men Sunday after not using Martin for a second consecutive night.
"I hope so at some point because we're awfully thin," Mitchell said when asked if the team will sign a player. "After you get past K.A.T. [Karl-Anthony Towns] and G [Gorgui Dieng] we don't have any size."
Mitchell acknowledged nothing probably will happen until perhaps quite some time after Tuesday night's 11 p.m. deadline for players to be bought out of their contracts and waived so they can sign with other teams in time to be eligible for the playoffs.
Mitchell said the Wolves will be patient while released players sign with teams aimed at the playoffs. They can wait and hope that a veteran — such as power forward Jason Thompson, perhaps — is available or sign one of the D League's top big men.
"After the dust settles, there are going to be some guys out there we'll want to look at," Mitchell said. "You don't want to do it too fast because you don't want to fill a spot and then someone becomes available. There are only so many playoff teams and only so many roster spots."